By DREW WINCHESTER
dwinchester@breezenewspapers.com
With the business climate still reeling, businesses are doing anything they can to not only get a leg up on the competition, but simply stay alive. Now, some lucky Cape businesses have the distinction of adding a people’s choice award to their walls.
As part of Breeze Newspaper’s “Best of” campaign, winners were given their awards at a special ceremony at Anthony’s on the Boulevard Friday afternoon.
Categories included the best in restaurants, entertainment, retail, and services.
The winners represented a cross section of the local business community, with small businesses sitting alongside corporate giants with equal aplomb.
Many of the winners, like Mid Cape Racquet and Health Club, have multiple “Best of” successes. Others such as Second Hand Rose Consignment Shop and Stephen Todd Home Furnishings are first time winners.
“With such a tough economy it’s great,” said Mid-Cape owner Bob Lynch. Lynch and his team collected their third “Best Gym” award this year, and their second “Best Massage Therapy” award. “It really shows how much our members love our facility, which has been open since 2004.”
Some of the other Cape based businesses that were honored on Friday include: Close Encounters Collision for best body shop, Cape Coral Tanning for best tanning salon, Kindness Animal Hospital for best veterinarian, and The Joint at Cape Harbour for best bar.
Breeze Newspapers’ Senior Account Executive Stephanie Struense, one of the organizers of the Best Of campaign, said the award really reflected the amount of work businesses put in day to day to ensure their customer’s satisfaction. All awards were voted on by the people who use their services
“It’s a great honor for a business to receive a ‘Best of’ award,” Struense said. “It really shows how much work they put into their business to keep their customers happy.”
For a full list of Best of the Cape winners, pick up a copy of today’s Breeze, which includes a special magazine listing the winners.